These and other behavior issues often interfere with a child’s ability to function well in school. They can also cause parents and caretakers anguish and turmoil on the homefront.
As it is, targeted behavioral interventions that meet the needs of a troubled child exist.
Implementing effective behavior intervention strategies can reduce negative or unwanted behavior in children.
Students learn best when they’re in an environment that’s academically focused and free of negative and problem behaviors. Using positive behavioral interventions and support strategies can, therefore, also optimize learning and improve family interactions.
Teachers who use these strategies focus more on teaching and the learning process. Those who don't find themselves addressing wayward behavior frequently within their classrooms.
As Positive Action philosophy dictates, students, like adults, have thoughts that lead to actions. These actions lead to feelings about themselves; and, ultimately, these feelings lead to more thoughts.
When this Thoughts-Actions-Feelings Cycle (TAF) is negative, students have no desire to learn. But when it’s positive, they do want to learn:
“Fourth grade is where I changed my life around. I felt like I wasn’t being threatened. I felt safe. I made new friends and didn’t care to fight.”
Jason, Lemon Grove, California
For students such as Jason, quoted above, positive behavioral interventions and support strategies go a long way. They encourage them to adjust their perspectives and expectations about school.
Only then can these students feel excited about learning and making contributions at home, in the classroom, and in the school environment.
The following strategies can be a great boon to the teaching and learning experience, whether they’re used at home or in school:
Setting clear routines for everything you’d like students to do in your classroom can be a time-consuming exercise. Yet, it is critical when you’re building a consistent and predictable classroom environment.
Be explicit when giving instructions so that your expectations are well understood. Additionally, give your students many chances to practice the classroom routines you establish.
You should also explain the consequences when your expectations are not met.
Ensure you enforce consequences when your students fail to follow the agreed-upon routines. Even so, take care to reinforce and provide ongoing support for the expected behavior.
Routines can give students more time to spend on learning. That’s because they reduce the amount of time that’s required to transition from one activity to another.
In addition to making for a successful classroom, routines are quite effective in addressing inappropriate behavior at home.
Here are some areas in which you could establish routines in the classroom:
Expert Tip: Don’t automatically assume students know the expectations of your classroom. Instead, be sure to demonstrate how you’d like them to do things.
Teachers can create silent signals for use in class. These signals remind students to pay attention, remain on task, or do something else.
These signals can be established for an entire class. But you may decide to put in place special signals for a specific student who could benefit from the extra behavioral support.
The beauty of silent signals is that they are very effective. They reinforce your behavioral expectations while causing minimal disruption to the rest of the class.
What’s more, you can even create signals that allow your students, or even one or two of them, to express their needs to you. The important thing is to use as many positive and encouraging signals as you’re prone to using negative ones.
Some examples of silent signals, plus other benefits of using this strategy in the classroom, can be found in the table below:
Benefits of Silent Signals
Examples of Silent Signals
Bonus Tip: If you'll be using this strategy on a specific student, have a one-on-one meeting with him or her. Then, explain the signals you'll be using in class.
You may also allow the student to choose a silent signal if at all possible to get him or her invested in the strategy
As a teacher, you should always state the kind of behavior you want to see. Doing so communicates to your students the kind of expectation you have about how they act.
Acknowledging those students who meet your expectations right away can be a great way to reward positive behavior. It also repeats your stated expectations for others who may not have heard you the first time.
For instance, you asked your students to form an orderly queue. But some of them are still talking amongst themselves in small groups.
You would ideally praise the desired actions taken by the 3 or 4 students who have already queued up. Then, watch as the rest of the students quickly mimic the desired behavior so they can receive positive praise too.
Aside from being an effective strategy, students have a positive perception on positive reinforcement practices, most especially in primary classrooms. In a 2026 study published in Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies, it was found that 92% of student participants reported positive motivational and behavioral effects associated with reinforcement practices.
Acknowledging and praising positive behavior in the classroom should be a continuous process. Even so, be sure to adequately address negative or disruptive behavior in the learning environment without praising it or giving it undue attention.
Finally, it is prudent to keep your expectations appropriate to your students’ grade levels as well as their abilities.
This can often mean pausing to consider the appropriateness of an expectation. Do this before making a habit of threatening students with statements such as, “If you don’t… then I will…”
Using negative reinforcement often creates unnecessary tension. You want to ensure the children you’re teaching are encouraged to consistently demonstrate positive behavior.
For this reason, you must also consider how you use your language. Tell your students, “We always eat while seated,” instead of saying, “Don’t eat while standing.”
Sometimes, you may fail to get a student’s attention by using silent signals and cues. Even stating the behavior you’d want to see may not always work.
In such cases, you can try moving closer to the student in a gentle way. You could even give the lesson while standing near his or her desk.
Usually, getting closer to a disruptive student will get them back on task. You might not even have to give verbal instructions.
A great way to use the proximity strategy is to make it a habit to circulate the classroom. It keeps students focused when students are engaged in completing their tasks. It can sometimes be handy to rest your hand on a student’s shoulder to get his or her attention.
Even when it comes to disciplining students, proximity allows teachers to be able to privately execute corrective actions. You might think this is unimportant, but quietly correcting students:
The bottom line? Use proximity when you’re teaching your lessons, transitioning to new tasks, or working independently. This great strategy can help you successfully redirect student behavior.
The four strategies laid out in this article mirrors the antecedent-focused approach at the heart of Positive Behavioral Intervention Strategies: proactively shaping the environment through routines, signals, stated expectations, and proximity. In doing this, the problem behavior becomes less likely to occur in the first place, rather than relying on consequences after it happens.
Many PBIS implementations are built in-house: a school-level team assembles its own tiered framework, acknowledgment system, and staff training using free federal resources and locally created materials. That approach works, but it depends heavily on the capacity and turnover of the team that built it, and it can look completely different from one school in a district to the next.
Positive Action offers PBIS-aligned strategies inside a vertically aligned K–12 curriculum with a universal, scaffolded six-unit structure that serves as a common language across all grade levels.
As an evidence-based program, Positive Action gives a coherent and sustainable approach, rather than a framework organizations have to build from scratch. The program is designed to work at Tier 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously, so the same underlying philosophy scales from whole-school prevention to individual student intervention without switching programs.
That consistency is backed by an unusually strong evidence base for a program in this space: Positive Action is one of a small number of programs with studies meeting What Works Clearinghouse standards in both the behavior and academic achievement domains, and it has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an approved model for Whole-School Reform.
The best PBIS implementation is one that's proactive rather than reactive, consistent across every tier of support, and sustainable even as staff and leadership change, which is exactly where many self-built PBIS frameworks eventually run into trouble.
Positive Action addresses that sustainability gap directly. Because it's delivered as a structured curriculum through the Pasela platform rather than a locally assembled binder of procedures, a school's PBIS approach doesn't depend on one champion staying in the building. It's been refined over more than 40 years of implementation across thousands of schools, with a research base spanning multiple randomized controlled trials, giving schools a proven starting point instead of building tiered supports entirely from scratch.
Evidence-based and multi-outcome, Positive Action has consistently been showing remarkable effects on learners:
All teachers are interested in having their students make positive choices. That’s because such choices ultimately lead to excellent academic and behavioral outcomes.
Positive Action’s philosophy is that “We feel good about ourselves when we do positive actions, and there is always a positive way to do everything.
This philosophy blends well with these positive behavioral interventions that every teacher should have in their arsenal.
The goal with positive interventions should be to use these and other strategies as a proactive measure, not as reactive and consequence-based half-measures.
Remember, problem behaviors are usually a means of communicating. Respond to them with compassion. If you’re able to effectively do this, you’ll be able to establish a trusting relationship between students, families, and teachers.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Positive Action to see how you might be able to implement Positive Action’s behavior management programs to actively engage your learners.
You’ll end up spending less time resolving conflicts and dealing with disruptive behavior and more time teaching.
What is a behavioral management plan?
A behavioral management plan is a proactive, written set of expectations, procedures, and consequences designed to prevent problem behavior before it starts. Within a PBIS framework, this typically takes the form of Tier 1 schoolwide expectations that apply to every student, with more individualized plans layered in at Tiers 2 and 3 for students who need additional support.
What are examples of behavior management within PBIS?
Examples include the four strategies covered in this article, such as establishing routines, using silent signals, stating desired behavior aloud, and using proximity, as well as broader PBIS tools like a school-wide acknowledgment/points system, a defined matrix of behavioral expectations by location (hallway, cafeteria, classroom), and data-based decision-making using office discipline referral trends.
What are the basic principles of behavior management?
PBIS is grounded in the ABC model (antecedent, behavior, consequence), which the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt describes as a way of understanding what triggers a behavior and what reinforces it. Core principles include intervening proactively at the antecedent stage, teaching expectations explicitly rather than assuming they're understood, applying consequences consistently, and reinforcing positive behavior more often than correcting negative behavior.
Is Positive Action a PBIS program, or does it work alongside PBIS?
Positive Action isn't a PBIS framework itself, but its philosophy and tiered materials are designed to work alongside or within a school's existing PBIS structure, reinforcing the same proactive, whole-child goals across Tiers 1 through 3.
What are the three tiers of PBIS?
Tier 1 provides universal, schoolwide support to all students (roughly 80% of students respond to this level alone). Tier 2 provides targeted small-group support for students who need more than universal strategies. Tier 3 provides intensive, individualized support, often through a Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plan, for students with the most significant needs.
Can PBIS strategies be used at home as well as in school?
Yes. Strategies like consistent routines, stating the behavior you want to see, and proximity work in a home setting the same way they do in a classroom, which is why some PBIS-aligned programs, including Positive Action, include family-facing materials that mirror the classroom approach.
How long does it take to see results from PBIS implementation?
Schools generally need at least one full school year of consistent, fidelity-based implementation before evaluating outcomes, since staff training, student buy-in, and data systems all need time to mature.
